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The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Naledi Pandor has announced the appointment of Dr Randall Carollissen as the Administrator for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

Dr Carolissen is appointed to NSFAS as Administrator for a period of one year to take over the governance, management and administration of the entity.

The appointment will be effective from the date of the publication of a notice in the Government Gazette, which will be done early next week.

Dr Carolissen is currently the Group Executive: Revenue Planning, Analysis and Reporting at the South African Revenue Services (SARS). He is also the Chair of the Council of the University of the Witwatersrand.

A week ago, Minister Pandor, met with the Board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, following the resignation of its Chairperson. This followed several months of engagement with the Board and the entity in the light of serious delays in the funding of students at TVET colleges and universities in 2017 and 2018.

Following the meeting, the Minister announced that she would be appointing an Administrator to take over the management, governance and administration of NSFAS in terms of Section 17A to 17D of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme Act (Act 56 of 1999, as amended). The Board agreed with the Minister on the need for the appointment of an Administrator.

Minister Pandor highlighted Dr Carollissen’s  leadership and management experience, high level technical skills and his understanding of the South African Higher Education and Training landscape as key attributes in selecting him for this role.

“I wish to thank him for agreeing to take on this critical and important task. I also  thank the South African Revenue Services, and the Minister of Finance for agreeing to release Dr Carollissen.” Minister Pandor said.

Dr Carollissen will be supported by a team of experts in areas such as financial aid, human resources, information technology, business systems  and change management. The Administrator’s responsibilities will be clearly outlined in the Terms of Reference for the Administrator set out in the Government Gazette.

The immediate focus for the Administrator will be to ensure the effective closeout of the 2017 and 2018 student funding decisions and disbursements, as well as to urgently finalise  plans for the 2019 funding cycle. Over the next few months the Administrator will work with universities and TVET colleges to make sure that student funding for the 2019 academic year works smoothly.

In her first meeting with the administrator, Minister Pandor urged Dr Carollissen to prepare for the opening of 2019 applications in September 2018.

A review of the NSFAS student-centred model will be undertaken over the next few months to run parallel with the term of the Administrator This will provide recommendations for the long term improvement of NSFAS so that it can effectively carry out its mandate, to ensure that students from poor and working classes are effectively supported to succeed in their studies.

The Minister also thanked the current NSFAS Board members, and the new Chair Professor Garrod, for their commitment to support the entity during the transition period. The current Board is dissolved from the date of publication of the Gazette.

Issued by Department of Higher Education and Training